Oh To Be Young Again
by sister-d
Summary: Mostly canonical story of Severus and Hermione and magic and a youth potion and love.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One – Oh To Be Young Again

"What do you mean, you found a charm?" Severus Snape narrowed his eyes at the one messy-haired, glasses-wearing and two redheaded men.

"It's just that, well, we're tired of seeing your grumpy face," ventured George Weasley. "We figured you might want to try it out, this charm, maybe see if it could be done." He handed Severus the very old, very delicate parchment. The _**A Dhéanamh óg Orm Arís**_ spell was handwritten in faded ink on the yellowing scroll. Severus had to squint to read even the largest of the writing, before sighing and, taking out a pair of glasses and perching them on his nose.

Ronald Weasley, George Weasley and Harry Potter all sat with Severus in a booth at Madame Rosmerta's, the same place they had sat every week since five years ago, when Ron, George and Harry had come to commiserate Ron's impending divorce from Lavender Brown-Weasley. On that night, Severus Snape had been sitting in a corner by himself, drinking himself into a stupor, and the three men-who-were-still-boys stumbled in from their latest pub crawl and decided old Snapey needed cheering up.

No matter how hard he tried, Severus could not get rid of them on that night, nor any other Saturday night since. Eventually they managed to make a peace between them, (well, a slight disengagement of hostilities) and five years later, they had surprisingly formed a bond that, despite their age differences and dubious past experiences, was solid and comforting, even to Snape.

"What does it do and is there a counter-spell?" Snape pinned George Weasley with his best classroom look.

"It's an anti-aging spell, the kind of thing me mum would use if she was worried about Dad having a roving eye." George grimaced. "Of course, my dad's completely bonkers over my mum, so there's no worries there." He gave Severus a quick grin. "Anyone waiting for you at home, then?"

Severus grunted in disgust. "Why would you think I needed either an anti-aging spell or someone waiting at home for me?" He was no prize, and he knew that the older he got, the less attractive he would be, if he had ever been at all. And then there was Nagini's scar.

"Because, Severus, you're our friend," said Harry sincerely. "We like to come sit in the pub with you on Saturdays, we know you hate to hear us talk about our women . . ."

"Or lack thereof," said George, elbowing Ron in the ribs. "Oi, I'm in the prime of my life, there's plenty of . . . ." Ron was suddenly moving his lips but there was no sound coming out.

Severus calmly placed his wand in his sleeve again, sighing heavily. Harry continued, after rolling his eyes at George and Ron elbowing each other more and more viciously. "Severus, I actually thought it might help with some of your scaring. It's not like we don't like the way you look. . ., " here Snape gave Harry a look that made him feel about 12 years old, "but, come on! If it helps fade the scars, then it'll be worth it, and then maybe you'll do what Hermione is always bugging you about, which is find someone good for you."

"Oh, so now you're the romance expert! It isn't enough I've given the last 5 years, no, wait _20_ years, watching the group of you try to mature and become adults, and now you're giving me romantic tips too?" Severus snorted as he took a gulp of his firewhiskey.

Harry sighed himself this time, rubbing his face in his hands. "Look, I know I'm saying this all wrong, but just believe me when I say we have the best intentions." George, with Ron in a headlock, giggled and said "And, we kind of wanted to see if it was something we could market at the joke shop."

"So now I'm a guinea pig?"

"George, shut it! It's voluntary, Severus. You always tried to teach me to look beyond myself and learn every chance I got." Here, Snape snorted more loudly. "Well, at least I've been trying to learn from you since, well . . . since . . ."

"Since you and I both died, but the world only wanted you to come back," stated Snape in a low voice.

"No, since you and I both died but both of us fought hard to come back to this world! Jeez Severus, don't let Hermione hear you talk like that, she'd hex you, heal you and hex you again, just for good measure."

It had been Hermione who had gone back to the Shrieking Shack in search of Severus Snape's body, only to find him still alive and groaning in pain. There was a hysterical Patronus to the castle, and then Hermione was on her knees, begging Snape to live. Poppy, Harry and Ron had all come running, and with Poppy supervising, levitated Severus as quickly as they could to the hospital wing for her to weave her healing magic. Hermione hadn't let go of Snape's hand the entire way, and refused to leave, even when Poppy had done all she could for the moment. "We left him before, I'm not leaving him again, not like this." Minerva had sighed and relented, watching the young woman before her become the lioness that represented her House, only telling Hermione to "please go have a wash, at least, since he'll be here for a while."

Severus remembered his waking dreams, the pain of the poison leaving his bloodstream, the ache in his arm where the Dark Mark had flashed then burned away like so much ash when Voldemort was finally defeated. Through it all, he had heard an angel's voice, at once soothing and annoyingly chipper, and when he finally woke up for good, the sight of Hermione Granger's curly hair draped over his chest as she slept peacefully was one he would never forget.

After that, Hermione stayed with him in the hospital wing, and then helped him when, much to Poppy's dismay, he removed himself to his own quarters. He had actually gotten used to Hermione's presence, and was secretly relieved when she accepted the position as his apprentice.

"You are correct, Potter. I may feel like that some days, but Hermione _would_ hex my hide off, and I'd rather face a room full of first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors than have her angry at me for any length of time." Snape's smirk curled up at the thought of Hermione angry. Her eyes flashed, her hair shimmered, and just when you thought she couldn't get any more irritated, her feet would lift off the ground and she'd hover in mid-air, her magic swirling around her like a cloud.

He liked to see Hermione all puffed up, he just didn't want any of it directed at him.

"So let me see this spell of yours, Potter." Severus held his hand out to receive the delicate piece of parchment.

Hermione, at the same time, was chest deep in a large pool of bubbles, soothing away the aches and pains that lingered after a long day helping Professor Sprout and Neville Longbottom weed the underwater garden located near Greenhouse Four. Professor Sprout had taken on Neville as her apprentice the same time Severus had taken Hermione as his, and they often worked together on special projects.

The underwater garden was sort of a Master's thesis for the both of them; for Neville, to show his abilities as a magical horticulturist; and for Hermione, to give her the opportunity to grow some very rare potions ingredients. Neville had already been approved by the Board to take Pomona Sprout's place as Herbology professor when the new school year started, and he was "right chuffed" that he could make the students call him "Master" if he wanted to. He probably wouldn't, for the nervous boy had grown into a very handsome and self-confident man, and the only reason he would ever call himself Master would be to annoy a certain surly Potions Professor.

Hermione was close to the end of her apprenticeship as well, although there was almost no chance she would take over Snape's duties completely. She reveled in the research, and was good with the younger students, so Severus had finally given her the First- through Third-years, who were just beginning to move up into the upper forms. He found them well-grounded in basic potions making, and was relieved that accidents among both the older students and the younger ones had dropped dramatically since Hermione took on half his teaching responsibilities.

Hermione leaned her head back and sighed. The underwater garden was coming along nicely, and there were one or two special plants she hadn't told Severus about. She was planning to surprise him right before the beginning of term. The Silver-Leaf Aquamesh was not an easy plant to cultivate, especially in Scotland in the winter, but between the warming charms and the tender care Hermione gave it almost every day, it was nearly ready to bloom. The petals were useful in healing patients with psychotic disorders; and the silver leaves the plant was named for could be ground to use in a potion that helped to strengthen a person who had been very sick. Stronger than the regular strengthening potion, but rare enough that it wasn't used very often, and only in extreme cases of illness or magic depletion.

Hermione was very proud of having successfully grown the plant, but what she really wanted was to see the look in Severus' eyes when she presented him not only with the prepared plant, but also both potions that could be made from it. From the very beginning of her schooling, she had wanted his approval, and although she was well-beyond the swotty know-it-all of her school days, she still felt some sense that she hadn't quite managed to impress the man.

What Hermione didn't know was that she impressed the hell out of the man, but he was too proud to admit that she was his equal as a potions master.

Hermione shrieked as the jackrabbit Patronus skidded into her bathroom and jumped around, trying to get her attention. No one but Ron could produce a patronus as jumpy and excitable as a jack rabbit. She blinked the water out of her eyes and listened as the jack rabbit squeaked out, "Hermione, you gotta come, it's Severus and boy is he going to go spare if you can't do anything!"

Hermione rolled her eyes. Life and death, it always was with Ron. She would have taken her time and ignored it in favour of spending a little more time in the tub, but the mention of Severus made her step quickly out of the bath and into her dressing gown to see what the problem was.

Hair dripping, curled up into corkscrews from the steam and heat, she followed the jack rabbit down the corridors and into the dungeons to Severus' quarters, where she could hear the unmistakable, but somehow different, voice of Severus Snape roaring at whoever was in the room with him. She stepped through the door just in time to see Ron cowering behind a green velvet-covered armchair, George ducking a thrown potions flask, and Harry trying to calm Severus by holding him forcibly down in a matching armchair by his shoulders. But it wasn't Severus. At least, it was Severus, but it wasn't really. "What the hell is going on here?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Oh To Be Young Again

The four men in the room stopped moving abruptly at the sound of Hermione's voice, and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Harry Potter, you'd better explain this right now, or I'm going to hex all four of you six ways to Sunday!"

"Oi, were just . . ." Ron started.

"Mione, it isn't anything . . ." George began

"Miss Granger, this outrageous trio . . ." said the younger Severus doppelganger.

"Shut it all of you! Ron, unless it was the latest Cannons match, you couldn't tell me the details if your life depended on it. George, whatever trick you've used, you'd better have a solution right quick." She paused. "And you, if you are Severus Snape, need to keep your mouth shut while I figure out how much of a disaster this already is." Hermione's wet hair crackled at this point, and Severus was charmed into silence by her beautiful fury.

"Hermione, it's an old spell. We were trying to help Severus heal some of his scars. You'll be proud of us, we found it in an old book!" said Harry, using his 'calm Hermione down before she blows the castle up' voice.

"An old spell. From an old book. And did any of you bother to see if there was a counter-curse to this 'old spell'? Did you think you could just whip something up later, in case it didn't work?" Hermione was well into it now, and she was magically on her tip-toes.

"We were actually researching it, Hermione. That's why we're here in Severus' quarters. You know his library, we did have a plan and we were trying to be careful," said Harry, pushing his glasses up his nose and swiping his messy hair off his forehead. Severus grunted.

"And what, pseudo-Severus Snape, are you grunting about, may I ask?"

"The part about having a plan," he stated. "Potter was working, I'll admit that, but these other two buffoons . . ." he gestured at the Weasley brothers, who huffed at him, ". . . were trying to mix work and play and ended up casting two different spells at once. This," he gestured at himself, "is the result."

Hermione took a good long look at the "result". Actually, it wasn't half bad. Severus had lost about 15 years, by the looks of it, and although the robes were the same, he was looked more filled-out, having nearly wasted away with his combined spying and teaching duties. She was always after him to eat a bit more, which he groused at, but this Severus needed no encouragement. He was still thin, but the muscles showing under the unbuttoned robes and shirt revealed a man in his prime, strong and handsome.

Handsome? Did she just think that? Well, of course, she had always thought him dramatic-looking in his dark, Lord Byron way. The crush she'd had on him since 6th year had somewhat abated, even after she took the apprenticeship. But this transformation brought it back in full force, and her stomach dropped at the look in his eyes.

"What was the spell, and how did it end up doing this, then?" she said, a little more calmly.

George cleared his throat when no one spoke up immediately, and said "It was an old anti-aging spell we found. We wanted Severus to help us figure out a way to modify it so we could sell it as a scar cream in our new beauty line, Weasley's Witches Wonders." He grinned at her. "We wanted to start off with a bang, you know? Scars removed, lips plumped, boobs, erm, lifted . . ." George's voice faded out at Hermione's expression.

"And?"

"And the dunderheads decided to argue about quidditch at the same time, Dumb trying to demonstrate a proper loop move and Dumber practicing the spell, trying it out." Severus frowned at them. "We'll need a pensieve to take everyone's memories and try to ascertain the exact combination that resulted in my, ahem, predicament."

"Oh come off it Snape, you have to admit it did a right good job of getting that scar off your neck, and I bet if you take your shirt off, you'll see a whole lot of new skin where more scars used to be." George stepped toward Severus to try start unbuttoning his shirt further, but Snape made a feint to his left and grabbed George's arm, twisting it behind his back.

"If you don't mind!" he stated in his best professor's voice. "I would prefer not to disrobe in front of students, or even ex-students, and certainly Miss Granger has no desire to see me in flagrante delecto!" Severus blushed at that last bit, tipping his head forward to hide his embarrassment with his hair.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat as she did think of that very thing – Severus in the altogether, lightly muscled, sweating and panting below her as she rode him hard. She shook her head to get the erotic image out, trying to grab hold of the conversation again.

"Hermione, whatever happened, we need you to fix it. Severus got hit and got younger, which isn't necessarily a bad thing," Harry glanced at the grimace on Snape's face, "but something's also happened to his magic and he can't seem to make any spells work," Harry said anxiously, hoping that whatever else happened, they wouldn't lose their ex-teacher and now-friend end up a Squib because of something they had done.

Hermione, hair dripping, robe slipping open and feet bare, decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and decided to grab Severus' cloak off a chair and wrap herself in it. Then she sat down in one of the armchairs and contemplated the situation. Her silence managed to keep the boys quiet as well, although Severus was quite sure she wasn't done being angry.

"Severus, what spell did you try that you discovered your magic not working?" she asked.

"Well, I tried a simple _Silencio _on Weasley Younger, in order to keep him from making a bad situation worse. However, what worked not an hour ago in the pub seems to not work now. I then tried _Lumos_ and even a _Wingardium Leviosa. _Still nothing." Severus dropped his head farther down to his chest, his hair hiding his entire face from the people around him.

"Harry, let me look at the book where you got the spell. After that, start researching again. George, you and Ron go find a pensieve and get your memories into it. Severus . . ." here she sighed. Severus younger wasn't a terrible thing at all, but Severus without magic was too dire to contemplate. She was his apprentice, it's true, but her genius was easily outstripped by his brilliance in Potion's making, and the Wizarding world would have a difficult time without his vast knowledge and innate talent for brewing.

"Severus, how about you and I have a bite to eat, after I go get dressed, that is, and take this one step at a time." Hermione looked down at her own state of undress and smiled nervously. If she was having naughty thoughts about Severus, what must the boys be thinking about now? And Severus? She wasn't sure she wanted to know, even though she really did.

"Hey, why don't we get to eat?" said Ron defensively. "I was the one who sent you the Patronus, you know, don't I get something for a reward?" Hermione raised one eyebrow in a very Snape-like manner and said, "Ronald, your patronus not only frightened the hell out of me, your crazy antics have resulted in this mess, and I honestly don't know why you think I'd be interested in feeding you, unless it was to Hagrid's hippogriffs!" She crossed her arms across her breasts, which only served to push them up to attention, which had the boys and Severus all following every movement. Harry was the first to recover himself.

"Ahem, yes Ron, why don't you and George go to the Room of Requirement and ask for a pensieve. We'll meet you there in 15 minutes to go over the memories and look in the books. The room will give you food, but you'd better get the memories ready first. Severus and Hermione and I will follow in a few minutes, give Hermione a chance to, erm, get dressed." This he said with a little cough, and both Severus and Hermione rolled their eyes.

"Right then Ron, let's hop to it!" said George cheerfully, slapping him on the back and grabbing his arm, dragging him out of Severus' quarters. All three of the remaining people breathed a sigh of relief at the sudden quiet.

"Right, I'll, umm, just go look for some, um good books, to umm, research . . ." Harry slid around Hermione and into Severus' library, trying not to get anywhere within ear-boxing reach of Hermione.

Severus looked up at her then, and they stared for a few moments before Hermione exhaled and stood up. "I should go get dressed, I think. I'll have your robe cleaned and brought back later, if that's alright with you," she said quietly.

Severus, for the most part, liked seeing Hermione all wrapped up in his robes, and was just imagining the slow, delicate process of peeling them off her. "What? Oh, yes, don't worry, get it back to me when you can. In any case, I know where you live," he said playfully.

Playfully? Hermione's eyebrows rose high at this and she stared straight at him, which was a mistake. Some little bit of magic must have been still in Severus, because at that very moment, he and Hermione seemed to merge minds. He saw her thoughts of riding him (_do I really look that good now?_) and she saw his teasing of the robes off her naked body (_does he really think I'm sexy?_). An uncertain cough behind Hermione broke their mental contact, and each blinked and hurriedly turned to a bemused Harry.

"Are we ready to go? Hermione, we'll wait at your quarters for you to change, but I don't think even the ROR has enough food to feed both Ron and George." He grinned at them.

"Yes, let's go," said Severus, hurrying past Hermione to open the door to the corridor. Hermione, still somewhat in shock, turned after him and the three of them made their way to her quarters.


End file.
